MANILA — In the Philippines they are known as the “kings of the road”, colorful windowless vehicles with loud horns and diesel engines that transport millions of Filipinos on their daily commutes. called jeepneys for its origins as jeeps In the US military, people are crammed inside and sweltering hot, ubiquitous on busy city streets where many passengers consider them iconic.
The Government wants iconic vehicles to leave the streets.
The jeepneys across the country they were scheduled to be phased out by the end of the year, to be replaced by more expensive minibuses under a government modernization programme. Priced at $43,600, the new replacement vehicles are more energy efficient, more comfortable and safer. But many drivers jeepneys they say they cannot afford them and that not having a vehicle would mean the end of their livelihood.
They also don’t like the program’s approach to helping them pay for minibuses. The plan would require the drivers of jeepneys form a cooperative to borrow funds from government banks to buy the new vehicles. These cooperatives would then operate on a profit-sharing scheme, a model that drivers say will eat up their profits and put them in debt.
The plan was introduced in 2017 by former President Rodrigo Duterte, who said the removal would help improve Manila’s poor air quality and ease traffic gridlock. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has agreed to go ahead with the controversial proposal.
A brief work stoppage was held in Manila last month to protest the plan.
In a country with a poor public transport system, the jeepneys they are more affordable than taxis and have been the preferred transportation option for decadesespecially among poor Filipinos, who live on rough roads that traditional taxis don’t cover.
Vince Tabing, a 49-year-old telecommunications executive, comes from a family of manufacturers of jeepneys and says it owes its success to the vibrant jeeps.
“Having a jeep is like having a carabaoTabing said. “A driver depends on him for his livelihood in the same way that a farmer depends on the beast. Telling a farmer that using a carabao he bought with 80 percent of his life savings is no longer allowed and must be replaced by a tractor three times the price is crazy.”.
Teodoro R. Ballaran Jr., a former driver who now oversees the operation of four jeepneysHe said he opposes the modernization plan because only wealthy businessmen can earn from it. His fleet of vehicles makes less than $100 a day, he said. A ticket costs about 22 cents.
Still, that money has helped Ballaran, 69, send her three children to college. “And the government just wants to take them away?” she said of the jeepneys classics.
By: Jason Gutierrez
BBC-NEWS-SRC: http://www.nytsyn.com/subscribed/stories/6635404, IMPORTING DATE: 2023-03-29 21:10:09
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